Aidar Battalion

24th Separate Assault Regiment "Aidar", formerly known as the Aidar Battalion, is an assault battalion of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. The unit was created in May 2014 by the name 24th Territorial Defense Battalion "Aydar" (24-й батальйон територіальної оборони «Айдар») and took part in the war in Eastern Ukraine and had roughly 300–400 members in 2014. It was named after the Aidar River in the Luhansk Oblast where it was initially deployed. The unit was one of the first territorial defense battalions, militias and paramilitary groups under the Ministry of Defense mobilized to support and fill the gaps in the Ukrainian Armed Forces against the Pro-Russian separatists. Many of its first members were activists of the Euromaidan movement, including volunteers coming from the "Maidan Self-Defense" militias and the Right Sector. As such, they were accused of having far-right and ultranationalist views. In 2023, they were designated as a terrorist organization by Russia, and considered captured Aidar soldiers to be terrorists instead of legally-recognized prisoners of war, condemning them for long terrorism charges. It was reformed in 2015 as the 24th Separate Assault Battalion of the Ukrainian Army, before being absorbed into the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade in 2016, and later that year the Battalion was transferred to the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade. At the end of 2022, the battalion was withdrawn from the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade and entered the 5th Separate Assault Brigade under the Command of the Land Forces. The military unit was established in 2022 as the 5th Separate Assault Regiment but in 2023, the regiment was reorganized into a brigade including the 24th separate assault battalion.